But we all know who the favourite is: Manu Feildel. We all know who the best dancer is: Haley Bracken.

They would obviously be the final two, and the only question was: who would make up the final 3 that would go into the Grand Final?

It turned out that Samantha Armytage couldn’t garner enough viewer support to lift her off last place in the ratings.

The final 3 next week will be Damien Leith, Manu Feildel and Haley Bracken.

While Samantha Armytage proved to be a good sport, for her sake, it was good to see her eliminated. The process of the judges tearing strips off her week-in, week-out became not only a bloodsport but also an unwatchable cringe-fest.

Helen tried to be as desperately optimistic and constructive as possible while Todd ranged from savaging her one minute to stating that it was not “personal”.

And criticism of her ranged from the bizarre to the just plain unfair.

Last week she was criticised for putting a George Clooney mask on her partner Brendan during rehearsals. McKenney said this was “insulting” to her partner, presumably because it implied she didn’t find him appealing enough. And while I agree somewhat with this sentiment (think what would happen if he or another man did the same to a woman and tacked an Angelina Jolie face on her head), it was clear that Brendan was not offended in the slightest – and Armytage even alluded to this in the pre-dance package- if he wasn’t insulted, where is the issue?

And also, most of those stunts are cooked up by producers- do they think the couples have enough time in between 9 hour rehearsals to organise stupid stunts like that?

And it was only a couple of weeks before that that her and Lara Bingle were accused of not working hard enough.

Now I can’t speak for Lara Bingle, but we all know that Samantha Armytage has a job most weekends working on Weekend Sunrise. And when you’re being battered from pillar to post no matter what you do, where is the motivation meant to come from to start working hard?

And anyway, when did this stop being a dancing celebrity competition and start being a celebrity dancing competition?

Seemingly, the judges, namely Todd McKenney now demand celebrities to work themselves to the bone in order to become good dancers, so that they can judge them at the level of professional dancers, rather than celebrities just having a bit of fun.

And you may say that the judges know that scathing criticism is more of a ratings-puller that fawning adoration, but you could argue now that the judges are getting just a little bit too caught up in the competition, and less about the fun of dancing.

I found it contradictory that one week, they would tell people to relax and enjoy themselves, and the next, pick apart their dancing, clothing, work-rate, effort, facial expression and pre-dance package comments (see Lara Bingle’s swipe at McKenney for criticising her hair arrangement). How could anyone relax under those conditions?

But in saying all that, the final should be at least decent viewing because the playing field is the most equal it has been all season.

And there are still a couple of interesting questions still to be answered;

It turns out she didn’t, hence they didn’t actually complete the task.

Does this constitute The Amazing Race Australia deceiving viewers? Read on for more discussion or leave a comment below.

(Thanks to commenter MolnarErik for the Facebook tip-off).

It would be naive to think that every reality show is presenting us with an accurate depiction of proceedings, especially when their key aim is to entertain, rather than to be honest, but Monday night’s Amazing Race Australia on Channel Seven was simply a bridge too far.

Take a look at Team Alana and Mel (or “the sisters” if you prefer) having a go at a Roadblock challenge in which they had to land 2 arrows on a target with 40 arrows to use.

And to put it in context, “the models” Sam and Renae were on their tail, having caught up to them despite arriving later.

They are also the last two teams in the race, meaning the last team to arrive out of the two of them will be eliminated (possibly).

So, first Renae (shooting for the models) scores their two arrows.

Then, as they are reading their next clue, Alana is down to only one arrow, with only one hit on the board. If she misses the next one, she will incur a four hour time penalty, meaning the models can streak ahead and pass through to the next round easily.

So, what are the odds, do you think, that Alana- who, out of 39 previous shots has only hit the target once (a 3% strike-rate for those playing at home), while suddenly land one on the very last shot (presumably purely out of sheer will and determination)?

Well, apparently very easily.

But take a closer look.

Here she is loading up (or whatever the technical term is):

After she lets go and the arrow flies through the air, it is clear that it is barrelling downwards, and you can see at this point when it crosses the flag the angle it is pointing.

However, before we see it hit the target from this angle, the vision cuts to another shot of the arrow flying up and then down, perfectly into the board.

And the angle at which it lands in the target is that of one angling downward (indicating a more parabolic trajectory).

If that isn’t conclusive enough, have a look at which post she is shooting from (number 5)…

And which it lands on (number 1)…

… And even the small fact that number 1 is located next to a tree, rather than the flag (seen on the left hand side).

So even if my detailed analysis of the trajectory of the arrow is incorrect, why have they cut to another piece of footage?

But you be the judge; see the vision at the Amazing Race website here and jump to 44:28.

So as a result of her apparently hitting the target, they were able to get the clue soon after the models- and even However, even though we saw vision of both of them in taxis, there was no “overtake them!” screaming, leading me to believe that the models were much further ahead. Similarly, for two teams that were supposedly neck-and-neck, there was no footage of them at the end when the models approached the checkpoint mat.

My guess is, is that Alana did not land the last arrow, and were asked if they wanted to wait four hours and then proceed or concede defeat and wait until the models had registered their place before approaching the mat.

But even if I have made a mistake, it still raises the interesting question, does the amount of licence the director takes make it any less of an exciting race? Just because what you see on screen is not always entirely accurate, does it diminish the show’s credibility as a reality show?

Surely others have noticed examples of when teams seem to be down and out but suddenly find themselves back in the race? Or even when teams are trailing others by a long way, but suddenly find themselves neck-and-neck with them at the end (For example, the episode where Mos and Mo were eliminated)?

Even the editing is sometimes somewhat nauseating, for example when teams are waiting to be given a clue, or an envelope, and the vision cuts to a carefully placed hand drawing out an envelope, making it glaringly obvious not everything is filmed then and there.

For mine, it doesn’t make it any less entertaining, however, too much of it and more and more people will become aware of it, and for a show in its first season (in Australia), it can’t seem as if it is cheating viewers (remember the mild furore that emerged when it was revealed Masterchef contestants have their food re-plated?

And for the sake of a couple minutes more of perceived drama, is it all worth it?

What do you think? Am I right or just a conspiracy theorist? And have you noticed other possible reality warps?